Pete Bethune Hub Guest Chat Review

Yesterday on the AR Social Hub we were lucky enough to have as our guest Mr Pete Bethune, the captain of the Ady Gil sea vessel which was sank by a Japanese whaling ship during a Sea Shepherd Campaign early 2010. he then single handedly boarded the Japanese whaling ship responsible for the attack on the Ady Gil which led to his arrest and trial by the Japanese authorities. now he is back and proving himself as a worthy speaker and campaigner for a number of issues including Animal Rights. before the chat I had heard from a certain group who had entertained Pete as a guest on their site that he was a hypocritical meat eater out to make a quick buck off the back of his sudden fame within the environmental and AR communities. To be entirely honest I would not have asked Pete to be a guest on the hub so soon after he had been a guest on another site. However pete had been invited before by the WAAR administration and I fully respected that.

The guest chat with Pete didnt get off to the best of starts since due to a misunderstanding about times Pete was late coming onto the Hub. As always with these open chats (no predetermined questions) it was a little chaotic at the beginning but once things had settled down hub members asked Pete some excellent questions and I have to say he gave respectable answers.

There were questions about his time in Japanese custody to which Pete told us the Japanese were excellent hosts and very friendly, all apart from a sergeant who was a little rough with him. Then came a question about whether or not there would be an Ady Gil 2, Pete explained the problem of the costs of such an undertaking for Sea Shepherd but he was unsure at the present time whether this would be possible. he did say SS were trying to secure another ship to the value of $1 million at the moment. Then the issue of Pete's dietary lifestyle came into play, he was asked to comment on how he could be so emotionally attached to the plight of other living beings when he himself is not vegetarian or vegan. At first I have to admit his answer surprised me, he stated he had only eaten meat twice since his liberation from Japan. There was a definite silence in the hub chat after this and I am pretty sure most activists in there where thinking the same thing. How could Pete say this as if it were a good thing, how could such a prominent figure in the world of AR have such views. Pete then continued to explain that he was trying very hard to lead a full vegetarian lifestyle which would eventually lead to a fully vegan diet for him. I am sure there were still mixed emotions about this in the chat but for me if its a case of encourage or depress I always think it best to encourage. Pete said he was trying to be honest with us and I must admit I admired his bravery to come into a dedicated animal rights site like the hub and yet still announce his struggle with his dietary lifestyle. As I said in the chat yesterday I fully believe veganism to be a stepping stone journey which has to be given encouragement throughout the journey by those who have made that journey, to ridicule or repel such travellers only serves to alienate possible vegans from completing that journey.

Before I knew it we were well over the hour mark and although Pete was willing to hang around an unfortunate incident occurred with other activists (not loyal members of the hub) who decided to make the situation difficult.

Overall the guest chat with Pete Bethune was highly interesting and I am glad I was able to attend. I found Pete to be both an admirable and honest person who I hope makes that journey to veganism to enhance his AR activism. Thanks to Pete for being the Hubs guest and to the members for making it a remember-able guest chat.

As the hubs first guest chat I look forward to more :)

ARB Is Back On The Social Curcuit

ARB was approached by the administrators of the WAAR Social Network and NewAR Online with the idea of joining together onto one social network site as a dedicated online animal rights hub. I thought about it since I wasnt so sure about going back to the social network situation but thought it would be largely beneficial to both the animals and the movement, somewhere we can all concentrate our online operations in one place.

The ARB Blog will remain as will the NewAR forum. We hope you will join us at the hub and look forward to hosting some great guest chats, interviews, fun events as well as serious debates. Each site is only as good as its members and followers so really the admins can only do so much, what this online social hub will do is really up to you.

I look forward to seeing any ARB followers, past or present over there :)

Click here to check out the new hub

http://www.waararb.co.cc

Eyes Of Slaughter

Twice a week for the past few months I have driven past a local slaughterhouse, once in the morning and again in the evening. Each and every time i do pass this hell hole inside I'm screaming, for the first time the other day I seen a truck parked down the side of the house of horrors and they were unloading the sheep. I made eye contact with a few of these poor souls as they were leaving the truck and I was ill. My entire body was shaking as I wrestled with this insane situation. There were two voices in my head, one was telling me to remain calm and there was nothing I could do. The other voice was raging with anger screaming that those abused creatures needed help NOW, not when us activists manage to organise our little picket protest with our banners and posters just to be ignored by the ignorant. This is why we need more haste within the animal rights movement using Any Means Necessary. If there was an organised and structured movement capable of immediate deployment anywhere it is required then those that are suffering and need us the most would have half a chance!

In reality there simply wasnt anything I could do for those animals that day, thats the brutal truth of the matter. I'm not giving up though and fully intend action against this hell hole, its what us activists are here for and what we must do!

The Opinion Of Choice

So many times when telling someone I am vegan and why I am vegan I get the reply "well its all down to each person opinion or choice". Bollocks!!! Its nothing to do with my opinion or my choice its to do with FACT!

FACT: EVERY animal including humans wants to live a life free from suffering & abuse.

FACT: Human Beings are responsible for causing endless amounts of suffering & abuse.

FACT: Each individual has an obligation not to be part of that suffering & abuse to the best of their abilities.

FACT: If you consume meat, dairy products, use fur, use products from animal testing or play a part in the human domination of other sentient beings for financial, moral or personal gain then YOU ARE THE PROBLEM!

Animal Rights is not a religion or belief, its not a difference of opinion and its certainly not an optional choice its a lot more simple than that. Its a RIGHT! A right to live a life free from suffering and abuse.

Just like the confusion, hurt and pain a human child feels who has been subject to suffering and abuse each and every animal experiences similar emotions. The majority would never stand by and watch a human child experience such pain and emotion so why do some ignore the same amongst the animal kingdom? They say ignorance is bliss, I say ignorance is an illness. Just like depression or any mental dysfunction, ignorance allows us to create our very own matrix. Do you enjoy being robotic and part of the assembly line or can you take a second to WAKE UP and see the system for what it is?

You may choose to be ignorant or even express your own opinion but me, I'll stick with FACT!

Dont tell me its a difference in beliefs when I KNOW billions of animals are suffering and being abused every day. Its not a belief its a simple matter of fact versus fiction. You choose to believe in fiction and I know it to be FACT!!!!

Try opening your eyes and leave the robotic existence behind, become less of a number and more of a individual. You may be surprised at what you find but I can assure you that you will never look back!

ARB Joins NewAR

It has been a while since I have posted but I was asked to help out with the online arm of the NewAR organisation and after careful consideration I decided to go for it! I like the vision of NewAR as well as the direction it is trying to take Animal Rights, its no big secret I have said for some time now the animal rights movement needs more organisation and structure, it seems I'm not alone in this way of thinking (thanks NewAR ;)

Anyway I'll be working with NewAR for the foreseeable future and highly recommend any ARB followers to consider joining us. You can find out more about NewAR at the NewAR public open forum (remember if you join to use a nickname), I look forward to seeing some of you there!

http://newar.freeforums.org/portal.php

Promising New AR Network

I came across a new animal rights network which is looking promising for those of us who support any means necessary. Its called NewAR and looks and feels just as good as the old ning sites like ARB, I have signed up and will keep this blog updated with its developments!

Click here to go to the NewAR network

Ning Users BE WARNED!!!!!

I would just like to take the opportunity to warn the AR community about the custom social network website Ning. As most of you will know ARB was the first animal rights concentrated social network at the beginning of 2009 using the Ning platform. Since then a LOT of other AR Ning netoworks have popped up, some great and others not so good. At the beginning of 2010 after some serious cashflow problems Ning announced they will no longer be providing a free service with all free sites to be closed down in due course if they did not convert to a Ning paid service. After hearing about Ning ending their free service it was decided to close ARB down rather than go to the paid option however some of us decided to continue with Ning and are opting for the paid service, BIG MISTAKE!

First of all you have to realise why Ning decided to stop offering its extremely popular and successful free service, simply because its in SERIOUS financial difficulty with debts running into the millions. Ning will unlikely recover from these debts and in the end will be no more, in the meantime their trying desperately to get some cash and using underhanded tactics to achieve this.

I have spoken to many Ning creators who transferred to the paid service recently only to have a great deal of money taken from their credit cards, well over and above the advertised amount for the paid service! When these Ning creators have contacted Ning asking for their money back guess what happens? Yes they never get a reply! Its daylight robbery in the making and when Ning decide to jump ship and run (which I feel will not be long after they finally stop the free service) there will be little chance of Ning users seeing their money again.

So please consider yourself warned and spread the word, DO-NOT PAY FOR NING! There are alternatives out there, maybe not as eye catching as ning but just as useful. If I was to reccomend one then it would have to be Spruz

The important thing to remember is most of what you want to do can be done using free services on the internet, when paying for a service check and double check they can be trusted :)